How one news story makes parents wonder if we're giving our kids the necessary tools to succeed.

Recently, in Nashville, Tennessee, high school students went on a field trip. After the trip, the buses dropped them off at McDonald’s and then had to leave to go on their normal routes.

The teachers made the decision to have the students walk back to the school with them; almost a whole mile.

Some of the kids were upset. Some of the parents were upset. Some of the community was upset. These students were abandoned by their busses and forced to walk back to their school!

What were they thinking?

What? These were high school kids accompanied by their teachers walking less than a mile back to their school. It wasn’t raining, it wasn’t snowing, and it wasn’t stormy. This was about a 15-minute walk in mild weather. The kids were back in time for their regular dismissal time.

This should not have even been news! I had to double-check to see that this news item wasn’t posted on a satirical news site. No, it was a real news report on a local TV station in Nashville. The fact that it made the news speaks volumes to me about how too many kids are coddled and babied all the way throughout their school years.

Quick! Bubble wrap your kids! It’s a big scary world out there and we must protect the children.

I just wonder where the line is between protecting kids them doing them a disservice by not preparing them for life in the real world. Does that mean I think we should purposefully place our children in dangerous situations and leave them to their own devices? No. It is our job as parents to teach them the skills they need and allow opportunities to use those skills. A very basic skill would be how to walk safely out in the community – something they should learn in elementary school (or earlier!), so that if they actually have to walk somewhere, as these students did, it will not be an issue.

I only hope good sense prevails and the teachers and the school are not reprimanded for doing what I think was just fine.